Junction box



July 26,' 1949. H. c. JONES, JR 2,477,131

i JUNCTION Boxv Filed Dec. 22, 1945 In venten Herm-ld C. Jones Jr?,

IDEM

H iS Att Ohr' me y Patented July 26, 1949 JUNCTION BOX Henry C. Jones, Jr., Fort Wayne, Ind., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New Yori:

Application Beceinber 22, 1945, Serial No. 636,663

f3 Claims. l

This invention relates to junction boxes for electric wiring and more particularly to a new and improved junction box for discharge lamp ballasts.

It is well known that wiring devices are highly standardized in certain respects so as to reduce costs, comply with underwriters requirements, promote ease of installation and give maximum interchangeabllity and adaptability. The light-- ing industry is preparing for an expected tre mendous demand for uorescent lamps and therefore much thought and eifort is being spent on producing auxiliaries for such lamps which are simple, inexpensive, as nearly universally adaptable to all applications as possible, attrae tive in appearance, and strong. Such lamps require a ballast and it is desirable to house this ballast in a container which is as nearly universally adaptable as possible to all the various applications and locations of fluorescent lamps. Thus, it should be readily adaptable for concealed or exposed mounting in portable lamps of the iioor and table variety and in both wall and ceiling fixtures for lamps. Because it should be capable of exposed mounting, its appearance is of course also a factor to be considered. A. ballast container which has been adopted as most neariy meeting all these requirements has genera ly the shape of a pill box, although in a much larger range of sizes. This also makes it adaptable for use with a circular fluorescent lamp or tube which in some cases may surround the ballast. The circular ballast container has an axial mounting hole through which a standard three-eighths inch pipe nipple, such as is commonly used in wiring devices and fixtures, can be passed. Such a pipe fitting is clamped to the box by a nut and it serves both as a mechanical support and Wire conduit. Connections to the ballast are made by wires which pass through a hole in one of the flat sides of its container. These wires are connected to both the supply line and the lamp and it is necessary that all the connections be covered or enclosed in a junction box or its equivalent. The features of this ballast form the subject matter of an application El. N. 637,027 filed December 22, 1945 in the name of Robert F. Rowe and assigned to the present assignee.

The problem involved in providing a junction box for a circular ballast is of course not the simple one of merely providing a housing for its electrical connections. An ordinary house wiring junction box could be used to do this. Nor is there any problem in merely attaching such a box to the ballast. The real problem is how to ldo those things the simplest, cheapest, safest,

most nearly universally adaptable and attractively appearing way.

in accordance with this invention one side of the ballast container also is a wall of the juneu tion box. The new part which in combination with the ballast forms the junction box is a simple one-piece sheet metal stamping which can be made in a single operation. It is of circular dished shape which when in place rounds off and enhances the appearance of the ballast. The only other part, not counting a pair of standard machine screws, is a bracket which can be stamped from metal strip material in one operation. Y

An object of the invention is to provide a new and improved electric junction box.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, attractive, strong junction box for a circular ballast for electric discharge devices.

The invention will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the invention applied to a circular ballast; Fig. 2 is an exploded view showing how the parts are assembled; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a ceiling-mounted circular fluorescent lamp fixture which includes the invention, and Fig. d illustrates an application of the invention to a portn able floor lamp.

Referring now to the drawing and more parl ticularly to Fig. 1, the pill box shaped ballast is indicated at l and attached to the lower flat side thereof, as viewed in the drawing, is a juneu tion box forming cover member 2. This is held in place by a pair of screws 3, such as machine screws or self-threading sheet metal screws, which cooperate with keyhole slots fl in the member 2. The member 2 which is generally flat has its periphery formed into a rounded flange 5 whose edge rests snugly against the hat side of the ballast I. This serves to break the sharp edged appearance of the ballast and produces a rounded and more attractively iinished article. The rounded iiange 5 is provided with a lrnocl:Im out 6 for forming a slot through which a lead-in wire can be passed.

At the center of the member 'l and between the key-hole slots 4 is a circular extruded portion 1 whose outer surface is substantially flush with the heads of the screws 3. The purpose of this extruded portion is to provide more space 3 for the wire connections, as will be described more clearly below.

Referring now to Fig. 2, the ballast i is shown as being provided with an axial mounting hole through which extends a standard wiring device pipe nipple 8 which in practically all cases is a three-ei'ghtlfi'sirich'sgize pipe. Such a pipe can be screwed into the central stud on standard house wiring outlet or junction boxes and it can also be screwed into various other wiring xtures and lamp fittings or adapters. ing out through one of the ilat sides of th I are a plurality of wires 9i l The ballast is mounted in position by means of a nut I0 which is threaded onto the pipe S and serves, to clamp the .ballast I securely in place. In order to hold the lcover member 2 in place against the flat side of the ballast l a bracket II is provided.;` This bracket is generally U-shaped and has outwardly extending feet I2, into which arescrewed the screws 3 and it has a mounting hole I3 in `its yoke portion. The hole I3 corresponds in size to the axial hole through the ballast I and the bracket II is held in place by clamping it between the side of the ballast I andthe nut I D. `This has numerous advantages. Thus, in cases where the ballast I rmounted in an enclosed location, such as in the base of a floor lamp which has a bottom plate, the cover 2 will not be necessary and in such cases the bracket II `can easily be omitted without in any way marring or changing the ballast. If thecover 2 werefastened directly to the ballast by screws which pass through the side of the ballast there would be. danger that the screws :i

would contact4v and injure the electrical parts inside the ballast and, furthermore, as the ballast is iilled with compound, therewould be danger of this compoundleaking out through these holes.

If the cover 2 were held ln place by welded r brackets; then those brackets would not be used in manyy caseswhere it was unnecessary to use the junction-boxover 2. Also, if such brackets were spring cliptype bracketsso that the cover 2 could 4be snappedjon and 01T, there would be danger that an accidental pull on the incoming line cord, would force the cover2 off and thus expose fthewwiring. connections. Therefore, the

present invention providesa very simple construction in which the entirejunction box cover assemblynisheld in pla'ce by the same mounting means for the ballast and no additional parts are DGCCSSBJY,

The bracketl] can performed in a'single stamping operation .fromumetal strip material of the proper width. In case sheet metal type screws are used vit will be unnecessary to tap the holes in the feetjIZ, b ut if ordinary vmachine screws are used theseholeshcan easily be tapped, in which caseit will be preferable to have the holes punched inwardlyy so as to form extruded walls iorvthe threads. Theyheight of the bracket is slightly less than the ,height of the hanged cover 2 so that when the cover is in place and the screws 3 are drawn up tight they bracket will be sprung This shows thestahdard -rise construction in' which lath or plaster board l5 is attached to the 4 under side of floor stringers I6 and plaster Il is in turn applied to the lath I5. Inserted in the plaster and attached to the lath is a standard house Wiring outlet box I8. Coming into the box 8 is a supply cable, such as a standard Bl-X cable I9. Threaded onto the central stud of the box i3 is an adapter 20 to which is attached the nipple 3. Fitted over this nipple is a circular iluorescent lamp holder 2| which is surrounded by a circular iiuorescent lamp 22. Placed inside the holder 2l and lamp 22 is the ballast I through which nipple 8 also passes. The bracket II is then placed over the end of the pipe 8 and the nut III put on and drawn up so as to clamp these parts in place. The wires I9 are passed through the nipple 8 and are connected to the wires Q from the ballast and are also connected to another set of wires 23 which lead upwardly through the nipple 8 and to a socket (not shown) on the lamp holder ZI for the lamp 22. In an installation of this kind the slot I4 will not be necessary and, therefore, 4the knockout B will be left in place. The cover 2 is easily applied by means or its keyhole slots and after the heads of the screws 3 are passed through these slots and the cover is given a slight 'twist the screws are tightened and the cover is iirmly held in pl'ace. It Vwill be seen clearly in Fig. 3 that the central extruded portion 'I on the junction box vc'over provides extra space inline wlth'the nipple 2 for the wires going into the nipple. The miniinuln height u; der the cover f2 is enough teclea-ra standard wire nut or equivalent s'olderlc'ss connector and all the electrical connections can be Iliade by such means. K

In Fig. 4 the invention is applied to a lfoor lamp 223. This lamp is shownfas having a base El? into the top of which is threaded the upright pipe or support 2S iorthela'inp. At vthe top ci the pipe 2t is a lamp holder 2l 'on'wh'ich Vis 'mouutn ed a circular fluorescent lamp 2. r Y

The end of the pipe 2E which i`s threaded into the base '25 extends far enough to permit the ballast I and the bracket Ii to beslipped over it and then the Vnut 'Id put in place Aso as to clamp these two members Vtightly against the under side of the base '25. In this 'case -a Aline supply lead 2i extends vthrough opening nea'i'fthe bottoni of the base andhan underwritrsfknot 2S may be made` in this lead to provide a strain relief for the electrical connections. However, the knockout slot or notch I6 in the coveris designed to accommodate a strain relief lead anchor of the moulded vulcanized rubber type now in common use so that the use rof an underwriters knot is optional. Connections are made between the Wires the wires 9 of the Vballast I and wires a3 which extend upwardly through the pipe to the lamp 22. After all the connections have been -ie the cover 2 issli-pped into place over the .3 il by means vof 4the keyhole slots in the cov- It will be observed that it is unnecesthreadthe lead 2i through a hole linthe cover 2 because this Icover is provided `With a knockout G for `forming the slot Ill, so fatter all kenclosed in a junction box'or'its equivalent.

While there has been shown and described a particular embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the invention and therefore it is aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modiiications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

l. In combination, a flat-sided circular ballast for an electric discharge device, an axial bore through said ballast, a plurality of wires extending through an opening in one of the flat sides of said ballast, a generally U-shaped bracket with outwardly extending feet and a hole through its yoke, a threaded pipe extending through said bore and hole, a nut threaded on said pipe and clamping said bracket to said ballast, screws threaded into the feet of said bracket, a dished circular junction box cover whose external effective height is slightly less than the external height of said bracket, a :pair of keyhole slots in said cover which receive the heads of said screws, an outwardly extruded center portion in said cover which extends beyond the surrounding outer surface of said cover a distance substantially equal to the height of the heads of said screws, and a notch in the periphery of said cover which accommodates a wire lead.

2. In combination, an enclosed electric device having a mounting hole extending entirely through it, a threaded conduit passing throuhy said mounting hole, a bracket member having a pair of outwardly extending feet and a central hole fitted over said conduit, a nut threaded onto said conduit and serving the dual purpose of clamping said bracket between it and said device and clamping said device between said bracket and any suitable support, wires extending from said device adjacent said bracket, a dished cover member enclosing said wires and said bracket and said nut and forming with said device a junction box which encloses connections to said Wires, and attaching means for said cover member comprising screws extending through it and into openings in the feet of said bracket.

HENRY C. JONES, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 904,320 Dustman Nov. 17, 1908 1,135,699 Knauber Apr. 13, 1915 1,544,736 Graham July 7, 1925 1,901,232 Glowacki Mar. 14, 1933 2,427,965 Henderson Sept. 23, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 672,012 France Dec. 21, 1929 

